It's Not Over
by turniphead815
Summary: Sequel to The Choice. Kate is with Sawyer, but they aren't out of the woods yet as Jack returns. Please read & review! CHAPTER 3 UP!
1. Born to Run

**Author's Note: This is the sequel to "The Choice" If you haven't read it I recommend that you do, but basically Kate was engaged to Jack, slept with Sawyer, and got pregnant. Now she is with Sawyer, and just had the baby. Please read & review, any comments/suggestions/criticism is welcome! **

_We've seen our share of ups and downs  
Oh how quickly life can turn around  
In an instant _

Kate sat in the waiting room as patiently as she could. She glanced at Sawyer, but he refused to meet her eyes, focusing instead on the clock on the wall opposite them. Jack too was sitting across the room, but Kate did not look his way. She couldn't believe that she was even in this situation. Five months ago, she thought that she'd left Jack behind forever. She moved in with Sawyer, and on September 18th, gave birth to Lucy Carol Ford. Unfortunately, that was not the end of the story. Jack had come around two months after Lucy's birth, the day before Thanksgiving, drunk, demanding a paternity test. Sawyer and Kate had refused at first, but he kept coming back, threatening to call his lawyer, and they gave in.

"She's yours, I promise," Kate had whispered to Sawyer on the day of the tests, though in the back of her mind she wasn't so sure. Right after they'd gotten back together, Sawyer had been gentle and loving, and he was great with their daughter. Lately, however, he'd been moody and distant, leaving for hours, sometimes days, at a time without letting Kate know where he was. She prayed that he was the father so things could return to normal and Jack would leave them alone. A petite woman with dark hair entered the room and Kate, Jack and Sawyer all stood up as she squinted at a clip board.

"Paternity case for Ford, Lucy?" She called, and the trio followed her into a small office. Kate entered last, stopping to lean up against the wall outside the room for one last quick prayer that Sawyer was the father. She was afraid of what he would do if he wasn't. When she finally entered, she took her place in the chair between her boyfriend and ex-fiancé. The doctor smiled, and glanced down at her clipboard again. "OK, for Lucy Carol Ford, the father is Jack Shepard." Kate felt like she had just been punched in the stomach.

"But that's impossible!" Kate almost shouted, standing up. "My doctor gave me the date of conception...I wasn't even with him then."

"It's possible that the D.O.C. was a week or two off." She smiled kindly. "I'll leave you three alone for awhile, take as long as you need." Kate shifted awkwardly in her seat and pressed her head into her hands, trying her hardest not to cry. She lifted her head in time to see Sawyer leave the room, slamming the door behind him.

"I want to see her," Jack said in a low voice. "I want to see my daughter."

"No," Kate said forcefully. "She's not your daughter."

"She is, and you can't keep me from her. I swear to God I will take this to court." Kate couldn't help but wonder why Jack had come to her in the first place. He hadn't been concerned during the last two months of her pregnancy, or the first two months of Lucy's life.

"Why are you doing this?" Kate asked, her voice breaking on the last word.

"I'll come over tomorrow and we can work out a schedule for when I see her. I want at least equal custody," Jack said, ignoring her. With that he too walked out of the room, leaving her alone. 

When Kate emerged from the doctor's office a few minutes later she saw Sawyer standing outside of their car, smoking a cigarette. He'd given up smoking for the sake of Lucy's health, but clearly that wasn't a concern now.

"I left Lucy with-"

"Yeah, I know where she is." Sawyer said, cutting her off. He put out his cigarette and got into the car. The drive to Charlie and Claire's apartment was unbearably silent. Kate couldn't even imagine what Sawyer would say or do once they got home. He would probably leave, she decided, but this time he might not come back. She shook the thought out of her head, too horrible to think about. She had pushed him away more then once, but now she couldn't even think about being without him. It felt like an eternity had passed before they finally pulled up into the parking lot outside of the apartments.

"I'll go get her. You can stay here," Kate offered. Sawyer said nothing, he didn't even turn his head her way as she spoke. When she got up to the door she couldn't help but smile as she was greeted by Aaron.

"Auntie Kate! Auntie Kate!"

"Aaron!" Kate bent down, giving him a hug, then looked up to see Charlie standing above him. "Hey, Charlie. How was Lucy?"

"She was great," Charlie said with a grin. "How were the...you know...the tests?"

"Oh. They were...is Claire here?" It wasn't that Kate didn't trust Charlie, but Claire was her best friend, and she was Lucy's godmother, so she wanted to tell her first. Just then, Claire walked out of the bedroom, holding Kate's infant daughter in her arms.

"She just fell asleep," Claire whispered. "How did everything go at the doctors?" Kate leaned on the counter for support before speaking.

"She said Jack's the father," Kate replied. She stepped forward, taking Lucy from Claire.

"What? But I thought you said-"

"I'll call you tomorrow OK? Sawyer's waiting. And thanks again for watching Lucy." Kate couldn't talk about this now. All she wanted to do was go to sleep and wake up to find out that this was all a dream, or some sort of misunderstanding.

"No problem," Claire said weakly, but Kate barely heard as she was already out the door, heading for the parking lot. When she got to the car, it was already running, and Sawyer had another cigarette hanging out of his mouth. He dropped it as soon as he saw Kate and Lucy coming. No one spoke on the way home, except for the occasional coo from the back seat.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Kate and Sawyer didn't speak for the rest of the night. She slept in the rocking chair in Lucy's room, while he stayed in their bedroom. Jack had called, and when Kate didn't pick up he left a message saying that he was coming over at 3 PM to discuss his visitation rights. She cried when she listened to it. Kate stayed in the kitchen the entire morning, waiting for Sawyer to wake up, and when he finally did, she cornered him as he tried to get to the front door.

"Sawyer, please talk to me." He tried to push past her, but she stepped in front of him, blocking his way.

"Let me through Freckles." Freckles. Well, that was a step in the right direction.

"You can't just leave, James. We have to talk about this."

"You said she was mine." Sawyer clearly did not want to be talking about this, but Kate didn't back down.

"I'm sorry. But Jack is coming to get her in five hours. He's going to try and take her from us."

"What do I care? That ain't my kid!"

"Sawyer!" Kate shouted, her anger growing, "Don't you dare say that you don't care about her! I know you do."

"What do you want me to do Kate? I can't stop the Doc from runnin' in here with his band of lawyers so he can see her once or twice a week."

"Do you know Jack at all? He's going to try and get full custody!" Kate heard Lucy crying faintly in the background, but she didn't move.

"He's not gonna get it. They always give that to the mother. Don't worry about it Freckles." He tried to get around her again, but Kate put her hands on his chest and stopped him.

"Yeah, they'll give me full custody because who can care for a child better, a con man and a murderer? Or a surgeon?" Kate never took her eyes off of him as she talked, silently begging him for help.

"I can't do nothing about that. No one's gonna listen to me. Just let me go."

"No. Maybe you can't do anything to get custody, but you can help us run."


	2. Outlaws

**A/N: Thanks so much to the people who read all of the last fic and are reading this one! This chapter is going to be a little different, with parts from Jack's, Kate's and some of Claire's point of view. I hope you enjoy, remember to review!**

_It's easier to run  
Replacing this pain with something numb  
It's so much easier to go  
Than face all this pain here all alone _

"Are you crazy? The police are going to catch you, and you'll lose Lucy for good!" Kate held the phone away from her ear while Claire yelled. She'd called her a few hours after she and Sawyer had left so she wouldn't worry. She figured they still had about an hour before Jack came over and discovered they were gone.

"Calm down. I never even talked to him. He left a message saying he was coming, for all he knows, I never heard it."

"That doesn't matter. You have to come back, Kate!" Claire pleaded. Kate rolled her eyes and looked across the room at Sawyer. They had stopped at a truck stop after a few hours of driving so Lucy could get fed, and Kate found a pay phone, she didn't dare turn her cell phone on yet. Now Sawyer was sitting in a chair a few feet away, cradling the baby. "Are you even listening to me?"

"I'm listening," Kate responded, "But I have to go. I'll call again later, but please don't tell anyone about this. I can trust you right?" There was silence on the other end. "Claire?"

"You can trust me," Claire finally said with a sigh. "But if anything happens to you..." 

"Nothing will happen. And I mean it when I say don't tell anyone, not even Charlie or Sun OK?"

"Fine, fine, just be careful!" Kate hung up the phone and walked over to Sawyer.

"Are you ready?"

"Where to?" Sawyer asked, as he stood up and handed Lucy back to Kate. She smiled, just glad that he was talking to her again.

"I don't care, just drive."

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Jack arrived exactly at 3. He considered calling his lawyer and asking him to come along because he knew this wouldn't be easy. In the end, he'd decided to come alone, but that was beginning to seem like a mistake when no one came to the door.

"Kate? Sawyer?" He called, but there was no response. The house was dark, and the car was not in the driveway. He pounded on the door a few more times and waited before giving up. He dialed Kate's cell phone, which went straight to voice mail, and the house phone, which rang seven times then the answering machine picked up. Jack left messages on both, asking Kate to call him immediately. He had a sinking feeling in his stomach. They had left on purpose, no doubt about it. He didn't really expect that Kate would tell anyone, but he called Claire anyway because if she told someone, that would be it.

"Claire, it's Jack, do you know where Kate is?" he asked as soon as Claire picked up.

"W-why is she not at home?"

"No, I think she and Sawyer took the baby and left. Did she say anything to you?"

"Um, I don't know where she went." Claire felt bad about lying to Jack, especially since he did so much for her and Aaron when they were on the island, but she had made a promise to Kate and she was not going to break it.

"Well if you hear anything, call me right away." The next call Jack made was to the police. Kate had pretty much avoided jail time after the crash, serving less then a month, but he had a feeling that she would be arrested as soon as they caught her this time. The only problem with this plan was that both Kate and Sawyer know how to run.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Kate closed her cell phone, which had been off the entire morning.

"Well Jack left two messages, and Claire left one. He called the police."

"They can't do nothing if you didn't hear the message." Sawyer pointed out. Still, Kate had a bad feeling.

"Maybe we should turn around and say this was all a misunderstanding. We don't even have any place to go."

"You really wanna turn around Freckles?"

"I don't know." Kate twisted in her seat to face her sleeping daughter. She couldn't let Jack have her. "No," She said decisively, "Keep going."

"You got it." The tires squealed at the sudden surge in speed as they raced toward an uncertain future.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Claire nervously glanced at the clock. Kate and Sawyer had left 12 hours ago, and after Kate's first phone call, she'd heard nothing. It was all over the news though, a twisted love triangle between survivors of Oceanic 815. The way they were talking about it, everyone in the world, or at least America, was looking for them. Claire had been glued to the television ever since Jack called her, praying that Sawyer and Kate could some how stay away.

"Claire? You coming to bed?" Claire turned and smiled at Charlie. They had been taking it slow, but they were living together, and she really did love him. That made it so much harder to not say anything about her conversation with Kate that morning. She had specifically asked her not to say anything to Charlie.

"Yeah, I'm just watching the news."

"Still?" Charlie came into the room and sat on the couch next to her. "Bloody hell," He said in a low voice. "No sign of 'em yet?" Claire shook her head.

"I wonder what happened. I hope they're alright."

"It's Sawyer and Kate. I'm sure they are, now come on, it's late and you know Aaron is going to wake up at 6 sharp." Claire nodded, but left her eyes on the screen. Charlie pressed the power button on the remote, making the news anchor woman and the same mug shot of Kate that they had been showing for the past 8 hours disappear. "Listen to me, everything is going to be all right. OK?" She just nodded again, not really believing what he was saying.

"I'm really scared," She whispered, and Charlie put his arms around her. They sat like that for a moment, and they both jumped when the phone rang, loud and shrill. "I got it," Claire announced, scooping it up before Charlie had a chance to think. "Hello?" She said breathlessly.

"Claire? It's Kate. I need your help."


	3. Tabula Rasa

**A/N: Very sorry for the wait! This chapter is more of a set up for what's coming, but I hope you like it anyway. Please review with comments/suggestions.**

_The pressure is building I want to break away  
Motivation is lacking the point starts to fade  
I look to the bottom still empty still the same  
I'm waiting for something to show me the way _

"Kate?"

"Shh, is anyone around?"

"N-no, no one's here," Claire said nervously, but Kate heard someone in the background.

"Who is that?" 

"It's just Charlie, sorry. I didn't tell anyone else I swear."

"Don't worry about it. Do you have Juliet's address?" Juliet had never been very close to either Kate or Sawyer, but they needed to have a destination in mind, they couldn't keep driving around aimlessly. Juliet lived with her sister and her nephew in Miami. It would take a few days to even get there, and who knew what she would say when they showed up, but that was where they had decided to go. It was one island survivor who Kate was fairly sure they wouldn't question.

"Yeah...you're all over the news do you know that? Everyone in the country is looking for you." Claire found the piece of paper where she had written Juliet's address after the crash and read it to Kate.

"I know, but we have to keep going."

"No you don't. It's only going to get worse unless you come back now." Kate glanced anxiously back at the car where Lucy was sleeping peacefully.

"I can't. Sorry." Kate hung up the pay phone without waiting for a reply, and slid into the passenger seat next to Sawyer.

"Did you get it?" He asked. Kate handed him the paper and she watched his face as he glanced over it. "You know, we still have time to go back."

"Or we can keep going and start our lives over."

"Is this really how you want to start over? On the run, holding your daughter hostage from her father?" Kate frowned. Of all people, she had expected Sawyer to understand, and to help her.

"No, with you and my daughter, away from Jack."

"We're never going to really be away from him. You know the doc as well as I do, he's not going to stop chasing us until he catches us."

"Well he can chase all he wants, I know how to hide. How do you think I managed to avoid jail before the crash?" Sawyer chuckled.

"Alright Freckles, you wanna run? Let's run."

- - - - - - - - - -

"We have no leads."

"What do you mean you have no leads?" Jack demanded, pounding his fist on the table. He'd called the police hours ago, and there was still no trace of his ex-finance or their daughter.

"They didn't seem to tell anyone they were going. We'll be bringing more people in for questioning in the morning. Rest assured, Dr. Shepard, we will not stop until we find them."

"She's dangerous, you know that right? They both are, they're both murderers!"

"We are aware of the situation Dr. Shepard. We are doing everything in our power to find them." Jack didn't believe the police officer. If they were really doing everything, he wouldn't be sitting here waiting for news, he would be rushing out somewhere right this second to go get his daughter. There was a list of phone numbers in front of him, everyone who was rescued from the island. Jack figured that Sawyer and Kate would find help with one of them, since neither really had anyone else. The police had already gone through the list, and spoken in person with those who lived in Los Angeles, but that wasn't enough for Jack. He had called Claire and Sun twice each, and everyone else at least once. He ran his eyes down the list again, to the number he'd scrawled at the bottom, the only one he hadn't called. Juliet's. He didn't really think they would go to her, and it wasn't very comfortable calling her seeing as how things had ended between them. Taking a deep breath, Jack dialed anyway.

"Hello?" Juliet's voice was different then he remembered. It was a little softer and sounded happier.

"Juliet? It's me. Jack."

"I saw you on the news today," Juliet responded without missing a beat. "She took your baby huh?"

"Have you heard from either of them?" There was a pause before Juliet answered.

"No. Do you really think they would come to me for help?"

"I guess not." There was silence on the other end. Jack felt a little rude calling her up and asking questions without so much of a hello, especially since they hadn't spoken in a long time. "So how are you?"

"You mean since you dropped me like a hot potato the minute Kate showed up? I've been good, Jack." He winced hearing her describe it like that. They'd been in a relationship once they got off of the island, but three months later, Kate had moved into his apartment building. He had always loved Kate, and as soon as he saw her again all of his feelings came rushing back. He broke up with Juliet a week later, and she moved to Miami.

"I'm sorry for the way things worked out between us Juliet. If it makes you feel any better, she left me for Sawyer two months before she gave birth to my daughter."

"It does, a little." She chuckled. "I should probably get going. It's late, and I've got to work early tomorrow."

"Oh, sure. You'll let me know if you hear anything right?"

"Of course." Jack hung up the phone and looked at the police officer standing in the corner, his cell phone pressed to one ear.

"We've got something!" The officer announced triumphantly, closing his phone. "We think we've found them."


End file.
